East Bay Judo Institute Tournament

This past Sunday, Sept. 14th, at the EBJI tournament in El Cerrito, DeLeon Judo Club had 11 students compete.

Makami – first to compete, had 5 competitors in his pool. He won 3 of his first 4 matches, all with Ippons. At the end of all the matches he was in a three way tie for 1st place. So in his rematches with 2 of them, he won the first match by Shido and then he won his second match with a makikomi with Ippon, earning his long day with 1st Place.

Syaza – was in a pool of 6 competitors. She lost her first match, then went on to win her next two matches, losing her 4th match, and then winning her final match. She came in 3rd Place.

Aiyana – had 4 in her pool. She unfortunately lost all her matches. She fought well and hard.

Thomas – was in a pool of 5 competitors. Unusual for him, he lost all of his matches.

Chayton – was in a separate pool of 4 competitors. He went undefeated winning all 3 matches to take 1st Place.

Vincenzo – was in a pool of 6 competitors, most all were Green belts. He lost his first 3 matches and then on his 4th match he went into Tai Otoshi, both of knees went down and was given hansoku make for a loss.

Alessia – She had two tough matches, however winning both. in her first match she was behind by waza ari, but came back with a left Harai goshi for Ippon. Her second match was very similar, she was behind by waza ari again, but this time got her knee bent and injured. But she came back, and threw her opponent for Ippon. Took 1st Place.

Brigitte – She won her first two matches, unfortunately I (Sensei Henry) could not see her matches, and then she lost her third match to come in 2nd Place.

Russell – this was his 2nd real major competition, in a 6 man pool. He started slow and was nervous, but did well. By his 3rd and 4th match he was more prepared to fight and he did well winning his final two matches with Ippons. This tied him for 3rd place, but because of his win/loss and points he did not place.

Courtney and Tik – were in the same pool, with just both of them. They fought 2 times, for Courtney it was her first competition, and for Tik she is a good seasoned competitor. Tik threw Courtney both times. But for Courtney, white belt against a Green Belt, it was not much of a competition for both of them. Tik took 1st Place, Courtney came in 2nd Place.

Overall all, all of our students did very well representing DeLeon Judo Club well.